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5 6 L i g h t i n g
ZDF Fernsehgarten
basks in ARRI True Blue Daylight
12 years ago, ARRI installed the lighting system for one of the most
popular shows of German public broadcaster ZDF, which is in turn one
of the largest networks in Europe. Broadcast live from the garden of the
ZDF headquarters in Mainz-Lerchenberg, TV Garden goes on air with 16 to
20 Sunday morning shows each year and reaches an audience of some
three million viewers, representing a market share of up to 23 percent.
Additionally, between 2,500 and 4,000 live audience members attend
each show on site in Mainz.
Small wonder that ZDF approached ARRI
again when it decided to re-equip the show,
given that the existing system worked for
12 years without any major complaint. Such
prolonged year-round use in an outdoors
Virtual News Studio at ZDF
area that experiences some extreme weather
conditions was impressive proof of ARRI
product quality. However, there were new
challenges for the team at ARRI Lighting
Solutions, as ZDF wanted to optimize the
positioning of the headlamps as well as keep
some of the existing equipment. The revised
concept called for a specific approach and
careful installation precautions, due to health
and safety concerns about the live audience.
By using special lifting equipment the ARRI
engineers solved this problem, enabling a
safe installation despite the narrow access
area.
The new automated lighting system now
incorporates ARRI Fresnel daylight lamps,
including the True Blue Daylight D40, 6kW
and 12kW Daylight Compact lamps, as well
as some motor yokes that were replaced.
Other motor yokes were completely overhauled,
while the smaller 4 and 6kW
motor yokes were renewed.
“The competent handling of this project by
ARRI Lighting Solutions again impressed us,”
says Josef May, project manager at ZDF.
“We especially appreciate the decidedly
higher quality of the newest generation of
ARRI True Blue Daylights. There are so many
technical improvements that are essential to
us. The renewal of our outdoor studio with
this kind of technology also perfectly fits
into a bigger modernization concept that
ZDF has consistently worked on over the
last year.”
ZDF has repeatedly commissioned ARRI in
recent years for some decisive projects, such
as the brand new virtual studio for its most
prestigious news show, Heute. More than
50 ARRI True Blue Tungsten lights were
installed in this newly-built virtual studio.
ARRI is also omnipresent in other studios:
earlier the Berlin project team designed and
supplied the control system for the 200m 2
automated Studio 2, which is home to such
programs as Auslandsmagazin (international
news magazine) and Politbarometer (political
opinion research center).
Norbert Wunderlich